Reporter’s Notebook: Hurry up and wait

This past week of rehearsals for "Beauty and the Beast" has been a lot of hurry up and wait.

We're blocking, meaning we're staging where everybody stands, moves to and what other actions we do during scenes, which often means moving to your spot and then waiting while the next move gets planned or the director tweaks what someone else is doing. Our director Marisa Post said Wednesday that in directing school, they say to plan to spend about an hour on blocking each page in a musical.

Sometimes it feels like you're not getting anywhere, so when a scene finally does comes together, it feels really good. By the end of this week, we'll have staged three of our most complicated scenes, complex because they involve the entire cast, and that is a big milestone.

Those include a tavern scene for the song "Gaston," which I'm already predicting might be my favorite, and "Be Our Guest," a close second. I'll be a plate — I'm super curious to see what that costume looks like.

Next week, we'll stage more scenes, and then we'll work up to putting them all together. And, hopefully, in the meantime we won't completely forget our music. (If any altos want to practice at my house this week, give a shout.)

And again, a quick plug for the play, which is being put on through the generosity of Aspen Community Theatre's donors. We open Nov. 6 — for more information, visit http://www.aspencommunitytheatre.com.

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Jill Beathard is grateful for the late nights spent doing something other than going to Town Council meetings. Email her at jill@snowmasssun.com.